The damage caused by Blue Shock spread throughout the entire gaming industry.
When games suddenly stopped selling, Gilbert began slashing prices or offering buy-one-get-one deals to sell the remaining stock.
The first to feel the impact were the small game stores scattered throughout the Empire.
Thanks to the game’s success, countless game stores had sprung up across the Empire.
In small towns without a direct store from the consortium, pubs or grocery stores bought and sold game crystal balls, so for them, Gilbert’s actions were like a thunderclap.
They had purchased a ton of Gilbert’s games thinking they would make money, only for Gilbert to sell those same games at half price before they could even be sold.
People naturally demanded to buy the cheaper games or that prices be reduced, leaving store owners in a bind.
“What are we supposed to do if you’re selling a 50,000 gold game for 20,000 gold?!”
“So what?! The games aren’t selling!!!”
But Gilbert, with a fire at his feet, had no time to care about such matters.
He was on the verge of ruin himself; what did it matter if the small merchants went under and future credit was shattered?
Burnell Gilbert resorted to desperate measures to avert disaster, and soon enough, the upper echelons intervened.
“You’ve finally lost your mind, haven’t you?”
“Father, I can solve everything! Just give me a little more time!”
In the largest office of Gilbert’s grand mansion, an elderly man with a large white beard, reminiscent of Santa Claus, scolded his overweight son.
He was Abel Gilbert, the founder of the Gilbert Consortium, former General of the Imperial Army, and current lord of the Gilbert region.
Thinking that if he left his son unchecked, their family would not only sink the consortium but their entire clan, he decided to intervene in this matter.
“It’s already too late. Do you think the consortium can survive after blowing away the lifeblood of the merchants, their trust?!”
In business, one can achieve both success and failure.
What’s important is maximizing profits when succeeding and minimizing losses when failing.
But his son Burnell was making a spectacle that was an absolute disgrace.
Poor investments, failure to manage partners, and the destruction of future trust—it was truly disheartening.
“Both soldiers and merchants rely on trust. Trust is worth its weight in gold, and yet you pour it into a mere entertainment business like this?! You still call yourself the head of the Gilbert Consortium?!”
“So, Father…”
Sometimes in life, one must trade trust.
The problem was that Abel did not believe the gaming business was worthy of such a trade, nor did he think his son’s actions would even earn him a decent return.
“I’ll handle this; from now on, you don’t do anything! Understood?!”
“Yes… understood…”
Under Abel’s roar, Burnell slunk out of the room like a defeated pig.
Whose fault is it that he turned out like this… Abel sighed, recalling the clever nature of Edward’s daughter.
“What a fool… ha…”
Despite his headache, Abel had no time to sit idly by.
He called for his subordinate and said.
“I need to meet Minister Herness. Set up a time.”
*
While the gaming industry in another world was ablaze with blue flames, I and the Irene School were hard at work developing ‘Eternal Fantasy.’
I had decided to ignore Gilbert’s games after deeming them not worth my time following Speed Rabbit 2, and without the Edward Consortium purchasing that game, information stopped reaching me.
Then, when I received a summons from the Minister’s Office, I went to Zephia after a long time, only to be met with a dismal sight.
“What’s going on? Is this really the Harmon Game Store I know?”
The Harmon Game Store was eerily quiet after so long.
No, it was not just quiet; it was haunting.
The once vibrant streets were littered with trash and crystal shards, and game stores had closed up and were gathering dust.
It was hard to believe that just a few months ago, it had been bustling with people and was regarded as the most famous spot in Zephia.
What on earth had happened in such a short time?
“Huh? Is that Yuren?”
“Oh, Uncle!”
Amidst this, I unexpectedly ran into the owner of my go-to store, Nuri Game Shop, at the Harmon Game Store.
Looking like he hadn’t slept for three days, the uncle was in a dark mood.
“Uncle! What happened here?”
“We went belly up thanks to those Yura guys and Gilbert’s scoundrels!!”
“What?!”
The uncle recounted the events that had transpired at the Harmon Game Store.
It seemed the game from the Magus Society had delivered a shock to the gaming industry beyond my imagination.
“One day, everyone was clamoring for refunds, the next day, they were throwing crystal balls in a frenzy, and just yesterday, local merchants were demanding Gilbert take responsibility for slashing game prices to almost nothing. How can we do business under these circumstances? So, we all went on strike together.”
“Goodness…”
The chaos that ensued following the release of the Magus Society’s game left Harmon Game Store in complete disarray.
It reminded me frighteningly of the Italian shock from my previous life.
I anticipated problems, but I never imagined it would escalate to this level.
“Yuren, when is the next game from the Irene School coming out? Hurry up and save us from this atmosphere.”
“Yes, it’s not long now. Just hang in there a bit longer.”
I comforted the uncle and headed to the Minister’s Office.
It felt like the time had come for me to step in and resolve this issue.
*
“Thank you all for gathering like this.”
After meeting with Sylvia, I was detailed about everything that had happened so far.
Hearing about the downfall of Gilbert and Yura within just two weeks, I couldn’t help but think that this situation was reminiscent of the Italian shock.
Even among the merchants, they were already referring to the incident as the Blue Shock.
Having grasped the situation, I went with Sylvia to meet Minister Herness.
The minister, with a pained expression, addressed us.
“I didn’t want to meet you all under these circumstances, but we’ve reached a critical point, so it couldn’t be helped. To get straight to the point, I need your help.”
“Is this about the current issues caused by Gilbert’s Blue Shock, Minister?”
“Indeed, Sylvia, it’s truly giving me a headache.”
According to Sylvia, who had been briefed beforehand, Abel, the true head of the Gilbert family, had stepped up to resolve the situation.
The exact damage suffered by Gilbert was unclear, but it seemed they had lost about 30% of the Gilbert Consortium.
That was just the direct loss; the damage to their credit due to pushing ahead recklessly was even greater.
How many wild things did that heavyset man do?
“Lord Abel, the head of the Gilbert family, is a pillar among military factions and the only dove faction. If we let this collapse, it could lead to adverse effects on the Empire’s political situation.”
From what I gathered from Sylvia, various political factions and consortia were interconnected in the Empire, maintaining a balance.
The Gilbert Consortium was one of the military factions, and it just so happened to be on the dove side of politics.
If they were allowed to dissolve like this, it was unclear how the military factions would reorganize, which likely prompted the Minister’s Office to get involved.
Who knew organizing a single game company would require this much effort? This really confirmed that this world was akin to a medieval aristocratic society.
“But Minister, even if this gets resolved, it’s still a problem. No matter how free the market is, Gilbert’s actions have crossed the line.”
I typically took great care in discussions like this, but this time was different.
If we merely skated over this, there could be a second or third Gilbert emerging.
It was already enough for those scoundrels to overturn the game market I had worked so hard to create.
“If Gilbert overcomes this crisis without paying any price, this could happen again.”
“Don’t worry about that; they’ll pay a price, but they won’t die. Moreover, Lord Abel has promised to wrap up the gaming business once this is over. He seemed rather fed up with it all.”
It seemed that was already part of the agreement.
When I spoke briefly to Sylvia, it appeared they had reached an understanding where they would clean up the gaming-related business and transfer some benefits to the Minister’s Office and us, who helped resolve the issues.
But that wasn’t enough.
“We need a ‘mechanism’ that will prevent this from happening again.”
“You seem to have thought of something.”
I shared with Minister Herness the solution that had been on my mind since playing Speed Rabbit 2.
Upon hearing my suggestion, he nodded in agreement.
“Indeed… if such a mechanism were in place, we could prevent issues like this in the future. Very well, we will follow your lead on this matter.”
Minister Herness accepted my proposal without hesitation.
What’s this? He’s unusually open-minded today?
The reason Minister Herness was so open-minded today had just arrived.
“So how do we resolve this issue? Will releasing the game you’re currently working on solve it?”
It seemed the minister wanted to quickly resolve this situation by releasing Eternal Fantasy.
To be honest, I thought that would solve it too—until I saw the state of the Harmon Game Store today.
But looking at the Harmon Game Store’s condition, just releasing Eternal Fantasy wouldn’t be enough.
We needed an even bigger impact to blow away the Blue Shock.
“I don’t think that alone will suffice.”
“What else do we need?”
I pondered for a while.
A method to resolve the current situation,
A way to calm the flames and remind people that games are meant to be enjoyable could only come from ‘that.’
“It seems the time has finally come to use that.”
“That?”
I thought the time had come to bring out what I had been saving up for just in case.
Referring to ‘that’ which I had previously used during Super Thomas.
